Colored Backgrounds (or not...)

[Bill Wood]

On Tue, 14 Dec 1999 11:17:29, Paul Hodges wrote:

>On Mon, 13 Dec 1999 19:14:19 -0800 (PST), Bill Wood wrote:
>
>>  With remarkable uniformity,
>>  everybody underestimated what we could do and,
>>  particularly, how fast we could do it.
>
>Fine - so either climate change isn't real (as some still say); or we
>can control it as visionary SF writers and others in the 50s thought
>we could do by the end of the century.  We can't.
>
>In the 50s we thought we would have near-free electricity from fusion
>in a couple of decades.  We don't.
>
>The population of the world is still growing fast, and there won't
>necessarily be room or food for everyone.  The visionaries predicted
>that space travel would/will enable us to whisk the willing excess
>population off to space-stations and new planets which are just
>waiting for our arrival. Do you see that in the next few years? 
>Actually a large proportion of the world's people are already
>miserable and starving - but not where we live so let's not worry
>about them.
>
>The failure of the visionaries is matched only by the arrogance of
>those who think that /their/ future is the one they've missed.  The
>future will be something you haven't thought of either - and like
>those who went from the Days of Empire to the First World War, you
>won't necessarily like it.
>
>Paul Hodges
>QBS Software
>
>(wondering what on earth this has to do with HTML email, which is an
>abomination IMHO)
>
========

Well, you're right that this has little to do with
HTML, except depopulating the earth of bits, or watts,
or glass fibre, or whatever, is being used as arguments
against it. So I respond. And I must answer some of
your assertions, too.

There is a difference between the day dreams of fiction
writers, who also propose practical time travel, and
the serious predictions of the technical expertise of
the day, and it's the latter who have consistently
underestimated everything. And, power is free, or
almost so. I can run a 1-hp motor for an hour for 6
cents. It's not powered by fusion, except indirectly,
but it's there if you need it. Of course, it's not
available everywhere, but if it's available here but
not there, then you should ask yourself why.

Global warming as a phenomenen is a fact, otherwise we
would still be in an ice age with glaciers moving
around in the southeastern US (think what that would do
to traffic on I95). But the notion that human activity
is responsible for it is not only unproven but is
considered preposterous by most of the hard science
types in geophysics and atmospheric physics that I know
of (I recently shared my workplace with one); also you
might want to subscribe to EOS to see what the
geophysics community actually thinks.

As for overpopulation, you're right. That is the huge,
overriding black cloud on our horizon and there nothing
I can do about that. And you're right, I don't have a
lot of sympathy for them, as I don't for most people
with self-inflicted wounds. But the only hope they have
is in western science and technology (and that means
primarily the US). For example, maybe an internet
gushing with waves of incompatible, incomprehensible,
HTML email, sucking all our resources dry, will be so
depressing and dispiriting that people won't feel like
procreating anymore. I'm already feeling that way
myself just reading about it (I know what you're
thinking, but it's too late; I already have a family). 
In the end, overpopulation takes care of itself one way
or the other.

But technologically speaking, the sky's the limit. And
I don't buy-in to the environmental/green gloom and
doom nonsense that has the government controlling
everything. But, ... but maybe, if we let the
government establish internet standards and enforce
compliance, maybe then  ... .


w3

Bill Wood
Las Vegas, NV
wwwood@lv.rmci.net

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